Waldbühne Hardt, Wuppertal, Germany25th & 26th August 2017
Feuertal Festival 2017 Day 2 with Stoneman, Ignis Fatuu, Mr. Hurley & Die Pulveraffen, Mono Inc. and Schandmaul
After a short night, which some of the visitors spent camping at the nearby open air bath Mirke (which by the way is the oldest open air bath in western Germany!), the second and sadly last day offered five bands, starting with STONEMAN.
Stoneman
The second day at the Waldbühne begun with two premieres at the Feuertal: First, the rockers STONEMAN from Switzerland had the honour of raising the temperature of the audience with their dark and addictive lyrics in German and a catchy mix of bittersweet melodies and chrome-bright metal riffs. The Swiss did not only have the longest drive to Wuppertal, but also had the mixed blessing to wake up the sleepy crowd. They did well, and steamed up the fans who have come to the Hardt that early. // http://stonemanmusic.ch / https://www.facebook.com/stonemanmusi
Ignis Fatuu
The second premiere was IGNIS FATUU who took over and proved to their visitors that their version of Medieval Metal represents a renaissance of the genre. The guys from Nuremburg have been in the business since 2004 and last year their fourth studio album ‘Meisterstich’ came out, their first pure concept album. Still, the band had quite a hard stand, playing more uncommon tunes at this festival. The puzzling announcement of Eric Fisch (SUBWAY TO SALLY) did not make it any better, so they did their best and played a short set. Enjoyable, but not dazzling. // http://www.ignisfatuu.de / https://www.facebook.com/ignisfatuu
Mr. Hurley & Die Pulveraffen
MR. HURLEY & DIE PULVERAFFEN on the other hand, got into contact with their fans really early, by giving away free pirate hats and eye patches. The band has already celebrated their festival debut back in 2015. Seeing the audience's applause for the band as a mood barometer, one can say that the act completed their gig with the highest honour: summa cum “louder”! Their Pirate-Folk, or “Grog'n'Roll”, or “Aggroshanty” fits the Feuertal Festival just like the Reeperbahn goes hand in hand with St. Pauli. Ultimately, it does not matter how one wants to label the music of the harbour riff-raff from the “Caribbean Osnabrück”. When songs such as ‘Schrumpfkopf im Rumtopf’ (transl. “Shrunken Head in the Rum Pot”) are put on, it's time to shake a peg-leg and drain the rum cup! Since they were streaming parts of their gig live on Facebook, they had a perfect pirate crew. As a special surprise, Thomas Lindner (SCHANDMAUL) came on stage, dressed up like a pirate, to sing along to ‘Achtung, Fertig, Prost!’. // http://www.pulveraffen.de / https://www.facebook.com/pulveraffen
Mono Inc.
Next, MONO INC. came on stage. Since their founding in 2000, the sound of the four alternative dark rockers from Hamburg has stood for great melodies, colossal orchestrations, and moving lyrics. This mixture keeps on bringing their albums to the top ten of the German charts. In 2016, they presented their first live album titled ‘Mono Inc. - Live’, which proved impressively how atmospheric their concerts are. Although they had two cannons and started their concert with the sound of waves, seagulls and with quite maritime flair, they did not follow the theme at all, but played a routine show with some of their oldest hits and mostly new songs. The surprisingly prevailing old fans enjoyed the easy melodies and lyrics, which came along with frequent flame jets and the requests to clap along the songs. Not the worst show on the weekend, but not the best, either. // http://www.mono-inc.com / https://www.facebook.com/monoinc
Schandmaul
With headliner SCHANDMAUL, the second day came to an end. The veterans of the Feuertal Festival played for the seventh time on this stage - and one easily could spot the joy they had by doing so. Since the release of their 2004 album ‘Wie Pech & Schwefel’ their albums have been in the top ten of the charts and their latest piece ‘Leuchtfeuer’ directly reached Number 1. SCHANDMAUL have long been more than “just” a medieval folk rock band. Besides song books, the band members also publish radio plays and contribute soundtracks to film and television productions. So, considering all their activities it's all the more wonderful that the band finds time to perform at the Feuertal and to pay tribute to those who made their unrivalled rise possible: their fans. SCHANDMAUL and Feuertal - a story of success that began in 2003 and hopefully will continue! But this year also was the time to say goodbye to an old companion, as Anna Katharina Kränzlein announced to leave the band. So she played their last gig together with SCHANDMAUL at the Feuertal Festival. With a fantastic concert, SCHANDMAUL concluded the Feuertal Festival 2017, only embittered by an early intervention of Eric Fisch, who burst in on stage to announce the next year’s festival. // http://www.schandmaul.de / https://www.facebook.com/Schandmaul
Of course, Eric Fish from SUBWAY TO SALLY cannot be missed at the Feuertal and so the front man was once again going to host the festival. Since 2003 the atmospheric medieval market has made Feuertal also a must-go for all fans of the Dark Ages. In addition to garments, instruments and other medieval hardware you could also find various food and drink booths there - keyword: mead! Needless to say, that fire-eaters, jugglers, and other artists were going to grace the stage at the medieval market, and finally, we were enjoying the mandatory Feuertal fire show. We say thank you to all bands, organizers, securities, and of course to the fans, who made the Feurtal Festival 2017 a truly great completion of the open-air-festival-season 2017!
All pictures by Matthias Irrgang
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